Health reminds pregnant women about the importance of whooping cough vaccination to protect newborns

The Ministry of Health reminds pregnant women of the importance of vaccination against whooping cough to protect newborns and ensure compliance with the vaccination schedule for minors.

Pregnant women should be immunized between 27 and 32 weeks of pregnancy.

Whooping cough is a disease that is usually not serious in healthy and properly vaccinated people. Therefore, pregnant women should be immunized between 27 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, and doses of the vaccine should be given to children at 2, 4 and 11 months and at 6 years. It is important to note that any delay in its administration may expose newborns to unnecessary risks.

Director General of Public Health José Jesús Guillen explained that “Vaccination is the most effective tool to prevent this disease, so we insist that pregnant women follow this advice.”.

Increase in whooping cough cases

In 2023 and 2024, an increase in the incidence of whooping cough was detected in Europe. “Although this disease is characterized by a controlled and cyclical situation, therefore alarmism should be avoided as most of them are mild cases.”Guillen added.

In the Murcia region, 823 cases of whooping cough had been diagnosed until April 28, with 21 hospitalizations – 2.5 percent – ​​and no deaths.

Since the end of 2023, the Region of Murcia has been implementing measures to study and monitor whooping cough by identifying the causative agent using a PCR test that goes beyond established protocols.

The region has a surveillance system that investigates and notifies all cases through individual reporting, as opposed to the aggregate reporting used by other communities and the Ministry of Health.